Dona Perfecta eBook

“How late it is!” exclaimed the young
girl. “Release me, cousin. I think
I can walk. I am really very ill.”

“I will go upstairs with you.”

“Oh, no; on no account! I would rather
drag myself to my room on my hands and feet.
Don’t you hear a noise?”

Both were silent. The anxiety with which they
listened made the silence intense.

“Don’t you hear any thing, Pepe?”

“Absolutely nothing.”

“Pay attention. There, there it is again.
It is a noise that sounds as if it might be either
very, very distant, or very near. It might either
be my mother’s breathing or the creaking of the
vane on the tower of the cathedral. Ah!
I have a very fine ear.”

“Too fine! Well, dear cousin, I will carry
you upstairs in my arms.”

“Very well; carry me to the head of the stairs.
Afterward I can go alone. As soon as I rest a
little I shall be as well as ever. But don’t
you hear?”

They stopped on the first step.

“It is a metallic sound.”

“Your mother’s breathing?”

“No, it is not that. The noise comes from
a great distance. Perhaps it is the crowing of
a cock?”

“Perhaps so.”

“It sounds like the words, ‘I am going
there, I am going there!’”

“Now, now I hear,” murmured Pepe Rey.

“It is a cry.”

“It is a cornet.”

“A cornet!”

“Yes. Let us hurry. Orbajosa is going
to wake up. Now I hear it clearly. It is
not a trumpet but a clarionet. The soldiers are
coming.”

“Soldiers!”

“I don’t know why I imagine that this
military invasion is going to be advantageous to me.
I feel glad. Up, quickly, Rosario!”

“I feel glad, too. Up, up!”

In an instant he had carried her upstairs, and the
lovers took a whispered leave of each other.

“I will stand at the window overlooking the
garden, so that you may know I have reached my room
safely. Good-by.”

“Good-by, Rosario. Take care not to stumble
against the furniture.”

“I can find my way here perfectly, cousin.
We shall soon see each other again. Stand at
your window if you wish to receive my telegraphic
despatch.”

Pepe Rey did as he was bade; but he waited a long
time, and Rosario did not appear at the window.
The engineer fancied he heard agitated voices on the
floor above him.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE SOLDIERS

The inhabitants of Orbajosa heard in the twilight
vagueness of their morning slumbers the same sonorous
clarionet, and they opened their eyes, saying: